Three years ago, Oak Lawn, IL-based Advocate Christ Medical Center teamed up with CeaseFire, an initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention with the goal of reducing gun violence and acts of retaliation. Now that budget cuts have cost CeaseFire its state funding, the hospital has committed its chaplain staff, a budget of $95,000 and management support to the partnership. Hospital officials are banking that their investment will pay off with fewer victims of violence.
Massachusetts hospitals have revealed the rates of pressure ulcers their patients have acquired during hospital stays. The measures follow criteria used by the National Quality Forum, and the rates are compared with state averages for hospitals of similar size and type, said representatives from the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Only two hospitals had rates significantly above average.
Adventist Health Care Systems has developed a program that trains already-bilingual staff in the technical terms and cultural nuances of interpreting in a hospital setting. The program is one healthcare providers are trying to meet the demand for qualified interpreters to help inform and reassure the growing number of non-English-speaking patients.
Bacteria that was once tamed by antibiotics is now evolving rapidly into forms that practically no drug can treat. Among the most alarming of these is MRSA, but even more drug-resistant strains are emerging and top infectious disease doctors are saying that lawmakers and the public do not realize the grave implications of this trend.
Five Massachusetts municipalities have taken advantage of a state law adopted in July 2007 that allows public groups to join the state's employee healthcare system as a way to save money. The five communities all met a first-year deadline in October to enroll in the Group Insurance Commission, the agency that administers the state's health insurance plan.
In a preview to the rest of 2008, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says the Bush administration will work to limit the government's role in the delivery of healthcare. The goal is a sharp contrast with Democratic proposals such as giving the health chief the power to negotiate drug prices and greatly increasing enrollment in federally sponsored health insurance for children.